Wedding Ring question

Hadley1 · 28 July 2011 at 10:57AM

Hi

We have recently got quotes for wedding rings (so exciting):D

For once the decision for me is easy... I want a shaped one to go round my lovely engagement ring with diamonds.

The dilema is my OH's ring. he wants something plain and practical. The main criteria is that its hard wearing. (he lovingly said to me the other day that he would be happy with steel (or a ring pull) as its just a symbol token - thats about as far as he goes on the romance front:rotfl:)

But anyway, we have had quotes of £200 for white gold, £236 for palladium (spelling ????) and £800 for platinum. I am thinking that he should go for platinum (not necessarily at £800), but he is thinking that he would go for the palldium.

We can afford the platimun, but by the same token don't want to have it just for the sake of it... So after my massive post... has anyone had a palldium ring and whats it like????

LEJC · 28 July 2011 at 11:27AM

either the platinum or the palladium will wear well...if its for a mans ring though I would avoid white gold...but only because they can tarnish and discolour if they are not looked after....it will need regular replating to keep the silver colour..

Platinum will be slightly heavier than palladium but in looks and performance theres not much difference bar the cost...

Silver could be a much cheaper option and will also last well...a custom made ring will be very cheap

birkee · 28 July 2011 at 11:49AM

9ct gold is much harder wearing than 24ct gold.... and cheaper.

Just out of interest, I refuse to wear a wedding ring. Not for reasons you might expect, but because I have big knuckles, and if it goes over a knuckle, it is so loose on my finger, that it is positively dangerous for a practical man as it could tear a finger off if snagged.

fawny · 28 July 2011 at 1:16PM

Hiya,

Just another though have you looked at Tungsten? My H2B is having a Tungsten one & apparently Tungsten is 4 times tougher that titanium and twice as tough as steel and as long as it’s been blended with Nickel and not cobalt, it will not scratch, discolour or lose it’s shine, it's also hypoallagenic(sp) which is one of the reason he's having it. The rings we have been looking at for him are lovely & have been about £250 at a max.

Hadley1 · 28 July 2011 at 1:32PM

fawny wrote: »

Hiya,

Just another though have you looked at Tungsten? My H2B is having a Tungsten one & apparently Tungsten is 4 times tougher that titanium and twice as tough as steel and as long as it’s been blended with Nickel and not cobalt, it will not scratch, discolour or lose it’s shine, it's also hypoallagenic(sp) which is one of the reason he's having it. The rings we have been looking at for him are lovely & have been about £250 at a max.

Ummm have never even heard of Tungsten... that sounds the kind of thing my OH would love. I will have a google on that.

Thanks so much for the info... really helpful.

Oh 1 more question is this a common metal - just wondering as our jeweller never mentioned it.

LEJC · 28 July 2011 at 1:38PM

Hadley1 wrote: »

Ummm have never even heard of Tungsten...

Oh 1 more question is this a common metal - just wondering as our jeweller never mentioned it.

its what the filament in old style light bulbs was made from.....

Not that widely available on the high street so that might be why the jeweller never mentioned it....if you discuss it with a manufacturing jeweller or someone who actually makes rings or has a workshop attached to the shop they will be able to advise you more...

fawny · 28 July 2011 at 1:46PM

Hi,

I'd never heard of it either until OH started looking & wanted something hard wearing which would be good for sensative skin. I'm really not sure how he came across it, but when we looked lots of jewellers had rings made of it. I think it's just not one you would obvioulsy think of. We are going to look at the Jewellery Quater in Birmingham next Friday:j& lots of the jewellers have rings made from it there but so did a lot of the normal big shops when we looked into it.

Hadley1 · 28 July 2011 at 1:49PM

LEJC wrote: »

its what the filament in old style light bulbs was made from.....

Not that widely available on the high street so that might be why the jeweller never mentioned it....if you discuss it with a manufacturing jeweller or someone who actually makes rings or has a workshop attached to the shop they will be able to advise you more...

thanks so much for that. Teh jeweller we have been talking to is a small independent retailler who makes rings - he is making mine - so will have a chat with him.

Mrs_Moore_To_Be · 28 July 2011 at 2:33PM

My Husband has palladium. We got married 3 months ago (3 months already?!!?) and its great, he is an engineer so needed it to be hard wearing. He had his bespoke made and it cost no more than £350 at most (id have to check exact amount) and even with his labour intensive job it looks as good as new.

He loves it as I think it was used to make the iron man suit? Anyway its more unusual so he likes that side of it too

HTH? x

alexlyne · 28 July 2011 at 2:53PM

I have a palladium ring - and it become very scratched & marked within days of wearing it.

Poppleminster · 28 July 2011 at 2:53PM

I'm looking into palladium, it's gone up in price recently due to popularity but still cheaper than platinum. I'd tend to agree on not choosing white gold as it's a much softer metal. I have a white gold ring and it always seems to look dull so quickly too. It's comfy as it shaped to my finger easily but would not be good as a wedding ring to be worn all the time.